To Hatch A Dragon
by DracoDew17
Summary: While doing a favor for Hagrid, Hermione has a surprising moment with Malfoy.


A/N: First of many drabbles I'll be posting over the next several days. These were all written as prompt requests. This prompt was Dragons and Apples.

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

Warning: Completely and totally AU. Just cuz.

**To Hatch A Dragon**

"C'mon, Hermione, it's just for one night." The half-giant peered down at his best student hopefully.

The Head Girl sighed. It seemed like they'd been having this argument for hours instead of only a few minutes, but she felt herself give in.

"Okay, but you better be back tomorrow. I'm not doing this again."

"I will," Hagrid promised emphatically. "Dumbledore said it would only take a day to do what he asked. Besides, she's not dangerous. The poor thing's too weak right now. I just don't want her to be alone, you know, if it happens."

Hermione felt fear bubble into her throat before she clamped down on it and she swallowed to calm herself. "I hope you're right," she stated before turning and marching out of the wooden hut.

Later that night, she was strolling into the Forbidden Forest with only her wand as company as she thought about the circumstances that had landed her in this position.

Ever since the end of fifth year, the wizarding world had been in full-out war with Voldemort and his followers, but it'd only been this year, her seventh, that Dumbledore had finally listened to Hagrid's suggestion to fortify the forest since it was only half-covered by the wards over Hogwarts.

One such fortification had been to install a dragon in the center of the forest and keep it in place by use of magical barriers. Hagrid had bought a young Hebridean Black from the MacFusty clan and fifteen acres of the forest had been sectioned off for it to nest in.

The hope was, that if the barrier was breached by someone who didn't know it was there and didn't know how to cross it, the dragon would keep them in place and distracted until they could be captured.

Hermione knew there were other traps set up all across the forests for unsuspecting Death Eaters to fall prey to if they came calling, but she didn't know what they were since they had been set up by the other professors. She only knew about the dragon because Hagrid could never resist telling her, Harry, and Ron anything. However, being Head Girl, she was the only one who had permission to be out of the castle at night and therefore, the only person Hagrid could ask to look after the dragon he'd named 'Buttercup' while he was out performing a task for Dumbledore.

Normally, a dragon didn't actually need watching, but only two months after Hagrid had bought her, she'd dug a hole under the Hesperides apple tree and laid two black eggs with purple spots in the cool earth. It'd been a surprise since she was still young and small for a dragon, being only ten feet from snout to tail, but one of the males in the MacFusty compound must have gotten hold of her as she came into her first breeding period.

That was four months ago. The eggs had yet to hatch, and Hagrid was worried that she'd get scared if no one was with her when they did.

Hermione shook her head as she circled her wand three times counterclockwise to enter the barrier without setting off the alarm. "_Aparecium_," she spoke quietly, trying not to shatter the stillness surrounding her. The blue glow of the barrier suddenly appeared before her and she stated the password, feeling foolish as she did so. "Lemon drop."

A space in the barrier opened up and she crossed through before it glowed blue once more then faded into the blackness.

After a few more minutes of walking, Hermione came upon the curled-up dragon, the golden apples in the overhanging tree glinting in the moonlight. Buttercup snorted in greeting as she blew hot flames on her eggs. Female dragons refused to leave their eggs unattended for anything but small drinks of water until they hatched.

The Head Girl felt a hysterical giggle wanting to break out as she plopped down against a tree on the other side of the small clearing. "Yeah, good to see you, too."

The dragon ignored her as she continued to tend to her eggs.

Hermione sighed as she gripped her wand, preparing for the long night ahead.

"So, this is where you disappeared to, Granger."

The brunette jumped up from her spot on the ground, wand at the ready, and turned to meet the smirking face of the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed once her heart slowed its rhythm. "You scared me half to death. What are you doing here?"

The blond Slytherin twirled his wand between his fingers as he considered her question. "I followed you once I saw you slip out of the common room. You're not as sneaky as you think you are, by the way." He nodded his head towards the dragon as Hermione frowned. "So, that's the oaf's latest project, eh? Does Dumbledore know his precious half-breed is raising dragons now?"

The Head Girl glared at her counterpart, knowing she couldn't tell him the real reason for the dragon's presence. He would surely run off and tell his father. "His name is Hagrid, and what business is it of yours what he does?"

Malfoy flicked a nonexistent piece of dust off his sleeve as he answered. "Well, since that stunt with the hippogriff in third year didn't work, maybe this will finally be enough to get him canned."

Hermione felt her cheeks burn in anger. "You're such a selfish bastard, Malfoy. Just because somebody doesn't bow to your family, you think they have no place in the world."

Two pink spots appeared high on his cheeks. "Stupid Mudblood, you don't know anything about this world because you don't belong in it in the first place."

"Well," but she didn't get any further. A loud scratching sound was beginning to fill the clearing and they both turned their attention to the dragon and her eggs.

A large crack had appeared on one of the eggs and it was spreading. Suddenly, one clawed foot poked out then another as the baby dragon hatched its way into the world. The other egg soon followed as their mother tried to lick the remains of the eggs off of them while they squirmed about.

Hermione found herself grinning like an idiot as she glanced back over to Malfoy. His gray eyes were focused curiously on Buttercup and her new hatchlings.

"They're so small," he stated, his voice filled with wonder. "I didn't know they started out so small."

The Head Girl, afraid of inciting his earlier ire, simply nodded in agreement.

Malfoy seemed mesmerized by the physical representation of his namesake; it was like he saw himself in the majestic creatures as the two babies crawled over each other, both delighted to be able to stretch their new legs as they blew tiny puffs of smoke out of their nostrils. After a few minutes of silence between the two of them where they only watched the new mother tend to her offspring, he said something that surprised her.

"I won't tell anyone."

Hermione was surprised at herself because she believed him, if only for the look on his face when he said it. It was the look of someone who wished they could be that small again, back when things were simple and life was innocent.

Hermione knew as she gazed back at him, with everything that had happened in the last few years and the hardships still to come burning in her mind, that for the first time, they felt exactly the same.

**Fin**

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